


On Her Own

by JokerRiddler



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Major Character Injury, Near Death Experiences, Slow Burn, Walkers (Walking Dead), Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:35:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JokerRiddler/pseuds/JokerRiddler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is just the first chapter. I will eventually update this, but it might take me a while.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Ivy

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the first chapter. I will eventually update this, but it might take me a while.

She pulled the bow taught and let the arrow fly. It made a nice squish sound as it sank into the decomposing brain of the walker. As the walker fell to the blood-soaked pavement, she had already knocked another arrow onto the bow and had it aimed on another walker. She took the second walker out just as fast as the first. The road was littered with the bodies of the infected. The streets of Atlanta, Georgia were crawling with walkers, and they seemed to get worse as nightfall approached. She had to be extra quiet then, or else they might notice her and that would be the end.

She wiped her sweating brow on her filthy tank top. Between the world wide power outage and the dead coming back to life, getting a good shower had become nearly impossible. She hadn't showered in nearly a week, her only means of cleaning herself was the lake she had found three days before and wipes.

She was perched on the ledge of the roof of a department store. Using her gun was too dangerous in the city with all the walkers, so she was forced to use her bow and arrows. She set her bow down for a minute and pulled her lengthy mouse brown hair into a bun on the back of her head. Scanning the street for any further activity of the walkers, she stepped away from the ledge and made her way to the middle of the roof, where she had set up a tent that was filled with a small amount of her possessions.

Her brother had come with her when the outbreak had begun, but they had become separated after a swarm of walkers had invaded their camp. She now spent most of her time searching for him, hoping that he had run up with another group of survivors and that he was okay. Nightfall was setting in, so she grabbed her bow and unzipped her tent.  
The tent didn't have much in it. After the outbreak, their simply was no reason in carrying around items that were of no use. A pile of blankets and a pillow made up her bed. She had only thought to bring four different sets of clothes and it was getting harder and harder to keep things clean as the days went by. She placed her bow on the make shift bed and pulled her quiver over head and off of her back. She set the quiver down opposite the bow on the make shift bed and collapsed to her knees. Sighing, she folded her hands together and rubbed them against her tired eyes. Sleep had come to her less and less during this last week. The walkers were so noisy, especially after dark.

She made her way over to the bed and sat on it, her knees pressed to her chest, knowing sleep wasn't coming this night either. Her hands made their way over her collar bone and to the locket she kept on at all times. It opened up to reveal a picture of her brother on one side and her on the other. Inscribed on the back were the words: "I owe my life to you. Thanks for listening, Ivy."

Ivy bit down on her to lip to keep it from quivering. Too much had happened and love was so sparse these days. She rolled onto her side and sighed as a single tear slid down her hollow cheeks. Ivy closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

She awoke several hours later unsure as to why she had awoken at all. Ivy sat up and wiped the sleep from her hazel green eyes. Slowly, she grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and quietly unzipped the tent. The inky blackness that was night swam into her immediate vision. Still unsure as to the disturbance of her sleep, she cautiously stepped out into the dark unsettling night around her and waited for her vision to stop swimming with the inky darkness to peer around. Holding her bow at the ready in front of her, she stepped one foot in from of the other out of her tent and made her way to the ledge of the building. Each step she took made a squeak making her ever the more alert. Her bow trained at nothing in particular, Ivy carefully lifted her body gracefully onto the ledge and peered down. In the darkness, she could see bodies shuffling around on the ground, but even her keen eyesight could not penetrate the depths of this darkness.

Her body moving lithely on the ledge, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and knocked it on the bow. Her senses telling her exactly where to aim, she released the arrow and gave a satisfied smile as she heard the body she had aimed for hit the ground. Smirking, Ivy sat down, her legs dangling off the edge, and peered into the night. There would be no sleep for her this night. Knowing this, Ivy placed the bow in her lap and smiled as she waited for day break. It wouldn't be long now.

Sighing softly, Ivy rubbed her tired eyes and broke her gaze away from the sunrise. It was so much easier for her to see at night. The sun wrecked havoc on her sensitive eyes. She stood up off of the ledge and set herself down on the roof. Today, she had promised herself that she would move. She had wasted too much time on this roof, but no longer. She would be moving out of the city today. She had to get away from all the dreaded noise. Ivy turned herself around and walked towards the tent. After retrieving all of her things and stuffing them in her bag, she unpitched the tent and rolled it up.

Her plan was to exit the building, using as much caution as possible and utilize any walkers that came into her view as quietly as possible. But, as her brother had pointed out to her countless times before, her plans almost never went as planned.

Throwing her bags over her shoulder and readying her bow, she walked over to the door and cautiously opened it. Her arrow taught and ready to be released at any moment from the bow, she pointed it in every direction, making absolutely sure there weren't any walkers around before continuing downward. The stairs spiraled down from the roof and to the interior of the building. She stepped down from the stairs, and with her eyes throwing darts cautiously around the department store, made her way to the door.

Her breath came out in short raspy spurts. Out the shop's windows, she could clearly see a large group of walkers headed in her direction. But no, she stopped to realize, they were not headed in her direction at all. They were clearly headed after a man running idiotically down the street. He looked all around himself, and without any further thoughts of his whereabouts, began firing off shots from his gun; calling every walker in a five mile radius to his position.

What the hell is that idiot doing? Ivy thought angrily to herself. Did this moron not realize the danger he presented to anyone trapped within these buildings.

After firing a few more rounds, the man began running away from the walkers and ran to a tank on the other side of the street. Rolling her eyes at the man, Ivy readjusted her bags on her shoulder and quickly made for the door of the shop. While that idiot man--as she now referred to him--kept the walkers busy, she would nonchalantly slip into the alleyway beside the shop and make her way to a car that she hoped would run smoothly.

Her bow at the ready, Ivy quickly and silently pulled open the door of the shop and made her way to the alleyway. It was just her luck that a few straggling walkers would notice her. Shit. She thought to herself, shooting off three arrows without even blinking. But, the more she shot, the more stragglers noticed her. Deciding not to waste any other of her precious arrows, Ivy began to run through the alleyway. Her destination at this point was unclear, she just wanted to get out of the city. She pulled herself up a ladder and away from the eight walkers that had followed her into the alley. Cursing under her breath, Ivy sent her last eight arrows into the squishy, coagulated cerebral cortex's of the walkers. Slipping down from the ladder, she backtracked and pulled free her arrows. She would just have to make do with the ones she had at the moment.

Apparently while she had been preoccupied in the alley, the idiot man had joined forces with some other people in the city, and one guy had rigged the alarm of a cherry red car to go off. He drove the car manically in the city, and she supposed, all for another getaway car to arrive. Not wanting to impose on the new people, Ivy thought twice about following them, but the idea that her brother could be with them made up her mind for her. Ivy ran through the infested city streets and eventually hot wired a car and followed the small group of people inconspicuously up a mountain.


	2. Meeting the Strangers

Following the maniac driver up the mountain had been slightly more difficult than, she, Ivy Giovani, had expected. She had realized that more was at stake than her brother's life. For what if these people didn't have him and killed her simply because she was an outsider. That was one of the biggest reasons that Ivy did not group up with people. She thought that it was much easier for one to survive if that particular person were alone. It had worked for her since the outbreak had begun, and if things went her way, it would continue to work for her. All she planned to do with this group was ask on the whereabouts of her brother and if they didn't know, she would be on her merry way.  
As the cherry red car parked close to the top of the mountain in a clearing that had been set up as a camp, Ivy nervously parked close by and waited impatiently for the rest of the group to turn off the alarm and assess her. She opened the door of the car she had hot wired and placed her feet outside the car. She kept her bow and quiver wrapped tightly around her body, just in case she needed to use it. Although, with the likes of this bunch, she wasn't quite sure if she would need to use them.  
Standing around the car was a blonde girl not much younger than herself; a brunette woman with a child no older than eight years of age; an older man who could have been Ivy's grandfather; an Asian/American who had driven the car; and a man who looked like the authoritative one around the camp. They all turned to glance at Ivy as she got out of her car and came around to the front of the car.

"Who are you?" the authoritative one asked, his eyebrow raised in an accusatory manner, although she had done nothing to him. Ivy noticed he glanced at the brunette more than once as he questioned her. She believed something was going on between the two.

Ivy lifted her bow over her and held it in one hand. Just in case. She thought. She had met with several different groups before and none of them had been pleasant.

"Ivy Giovani. I'm looking for my brother," Was her response to the man's question. "who are you?" She redirected the question back to him.

He nodded at her, but turned his attention from her as an older model vehicle drove up behind her and several different people got out. Ivy noticed the blonde girl burst into tears as she hugged another blonde who looked like an older version of the young girl. She watched with envy as the idiotic man from earlier that day ran up to the brunette woman and the young child and wept as he hugged them. She was envious because she couldn't share the love that they so clearly had.

"You didn't answer my question." She pointed out to no one in particular. Just the same, she hoped she was ignored. She would much rather like to escape from the charades of love and head out into the forest, where she felt at peace from the world that now consumed them.

As Ivy began to make her way over to the forest the Asian-American kid looked at her and explained who everyone was.

"I'm Glenn. The couple over there is Rick, Lori, and their son, Carl. The older guy is Dale. The two blondes are sisters named Andrea and Amy. The guy you were talking to is Shane. And that last couple with the little girl is Carol, Ed, and Sophia. I'm sure Daryl is here somewhere, but I wouldn't worry too much about him right now." He pointed out nearly every person in the camp to Ivy and she followed everything that he was saying. After he had stopped talking, he walked away and began talking to the others in their party.

She continued on her way to the edge of the forest. She had already assumed that her brother was not there and she did not need to be there if he was not there. Stepping lightly into the green foliage of the trees, she allowed her senses to take control. She pulled the bow close to her side, but kept it palmed. You could never be too sure of your surroundings. Especially around people you had no idea about.

“Hey, Ivy.” Glenn called out to her.

Ivy tensed up and slowly turned around. She had not known that he would call on her and pull her back into the strange group of people who obviously seemed to know one another. She would just be another stranger; one that they would not like to get to know. Ivy glanced at the Asian-American and slowly stalked back out of the forest.

“What?” She muttered lightly, not quite sure how to go about answering him.

“Where are you going? The group wants to meet you.” He asked her just as quietly, tugging nervously on the cap he wore on his head.

Ivy rubbed her finger on the edge of the bow, her nerves getting to her. Since the beginning of the outbreak, she had pretty much been on her own. She was always on alert due to the increasing risk of danger and had not become close to anyone for fear of something happening.

“Why would they want to meet me?” She asked curiously, bringing her bow up and over her to rest on her back. Glenn outwardly flinched at the movement and she made note of it. He seemed more of the wimpy type to her, but she could be wrong. In the harsh world they were forced to live in, one such as himself could turn out to be of more use than was thought of.

“They’re, um, curious about you.” He told her, tilting his head slightly and squinting his eyes at her.

Ivy pursed her lips and nodded her head at him, signaling he could lead her to them. He turned abruptly on his heel and led her to the slightly large group. Since the outbreak, she had tried her best to stay away from such large groups due to the immense amount of walkers. She wanted to attract as little amount of noise as possible. Hence the use of the bow and arrows. Ivy only ever used a gun if the situation called for it. In most cases, she could get away with using her bow, but occasionally when there was a large group and she had a limited amount of arrows, she would use her cache of guns and ammo.

Ivy trailed behind Glenn, not wanting to stir too much attention her way; even though it was her who had followed him up the mountain to this strange group of people. Spying the group just in front of them, Ivy tightened her grip on her bow and sucked it a small lungful of air. There’s no use in getting worked up about meeting these people. Chill out. She thought to herself.

“Guys, this is Ivy.” Glenn introduced her, stepping to the side so they could get a full view of her.

Ivy placed a weak smile on her lips and muttered hi under her breath. The group looked at her wearily, but she got a few smiles from several people.

“Have you been bit?” The guy that Glenn pointed out as Shane asked, his mouth twitching up. He glanced at the Lori woman who shot him a glare, before looking back at Ivy.  
“No. You can check if you like.” Ivy retaliated a little sharply. She had not planned on meeting any new people.

Shane nodded his head. “I’m Shane Walsh. Nice to meet you.” He stepped closer to her and she shook his hand. She did the same to the others, them telling her their names and her nodded and smiling in all the right places. Ivy was not happy to be surrounded by so many people all at once.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?” the youngest blonde, Amy, asked nonchalantly as they led her to their encampment and allowed her to set up her things.

“I’m looking for my brother. He got separated from me when a herd invaded our camp about a week ago. I haven’t seen him since.” Ivy told her. She supposed she trusted this girl, if only just a little bit more than the others. Ivy held her in more regard than the others due to the girl’s age. She was just a few years younger than herself.

Andrea smiled at Ivy as she passed Amy and her. Ivy had no idea just exactly what she had gotten herself into.

Around the campfire that night, Ivy felt a little more at ease. She had discovered that she liked Ed less than anyone else in the camp. After Shane had confronted Ed about keeping the embers of the fire down so the walkers wouldn't be attracted, Ed had told him to mind his business. That hadn't really bothered Ivy so much. It was when he had begun ordering Carol, his wife, around like a slave, that she took offense. But being the “new” addition, she decided to keep her mouth shut. It would keep her out of trouble for the time being.

Straddling a log around the small campfire, Ivy listened to the group about what had gone down earlier that day in the city. Apparently, Rick had handcuffed some guy named Merle to the roof of a building and T-Dog had fixed the door so that the walkers couldn't get to him. She listened to them discuss a man named Daryl, who was Merle’s brother, and what he would do after finding out about Merle.

Later, after everyone had settled into their respective sleeping places, Ivy sat up. She had her bow and arrows at the ready. The old man, Dale, had set up post on the top of his RV, but she still didn’t feel secure. Since the outbreak, Ivy had developed a case of insomnia that made every waking minute more unsafe than the next.


End file.
